Andrea del Sarto (1486–1530)

Italian Renaissance painter. Active in Florence, he was one of the finest portraitists and religious painters of his time. His frescoes in Florence, such as the Birth of the Virgin (1514; Sta Annunziata), rank among the greatest of the Renaissance. His style is serene and noble, characteristic of High Renaissance art.

Andrea del Sarto trained under Piero de Cosimo and others but was chiefly influenced by Masaccio and Michelangelo. He was the foremost painter in Florence after about 1510, along with Fra Bartolommeo, although he was gradually superseded by the emerging Mannerists during the 1520s. Apart from portraits, such as A Young Man (National Gallery, London), he painted many religious works, including the Madonna of the Harpies 1517 (Uffizi, Florence), an example of classical beauty reminiscent of Raphael. His celebrated frescoes are at Sta Annunziata and the Chiostro dello Scalzo, both in Florence.

He was called del Sarto because he was the son of a Florentine tailor. Apprenticed to a goldsmith, he later studied under Giovanni and Barile. In 1518 he went to work for Francis I in France and returned to Italy 1519 with funds to enlarge the royal French art collection; he spent it on a house for himself and never went back. His pupils included Pontormo, Giovanno Rossi, and Vasari.